View From Behind The Nets - October 2003
by Rodney Dullaghan

What A Month!

The last article I did for the fanzine was just before the Dublin City game. We were in fourth position in the league but were five points behind Dublin City. Many said that if we didn’t beat the Dubs then we would be out of contention and it would be the end of our title hopes. We didn’t beat Dublin and as it turned out, it was far from the end of our title charge but it did spell the end of a nine-year spell at the club for our manager Johnny Speak.

A lot of fans were really sorry to see Speakie’s time at the club end the way it did but our performances on the field were unimaginative to say the least and we hadn’t won a game in a month. Wizard took charge on a caretaker basis until a suitable replacement was found and while near panic epidemics were breaking out the length and the breadth of Donegal with news that Felix Healy was one of the favourites to land the managers job, Whizzy took care of what happened on the field. He kept the players focused on the task at hand and delivered two brilliant results with a 3-1 away win in Kilkenny and one of Harps best performances of the season with a 5-0 thrashing of Cobh here at Finn Park.

The following Monday the Harps Board of Directors announced that the new manager was to be Noel King. Whizzy is to retain the position of assistant manager, much to the delight of the majority of fans and everyone is sure that he will do what he does best with the younger players of the club as we now have two of the most qualified coaches in the league. The younger players at the club the calibre of Gary Crossan and Chrissy Breen bodes well for the future of Harps and they will continue to strive under the guidance of ‘The Wizard’.

‘Kinger’ is widely known throughout the country in League of Ireland circles. He managed Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Limerick and more recently Shelbourne. He is the only fully qualified FIFA coach in Ireland, is currently manager of the ladies International side and is a regular pundit on TV3’s eircom League Weekly show. We all hope that his experience and knowledge of the game here will take us back to up the Premiership after our so many close misses.

His first game in charge was last Thursday night in Oriel Park in Dundalk and the after controlling the game throughout Harps found themselves one down with less than half an hour left. They struck back with two of the finest long-range strikes you are likely to see anywhere. A half volley from Johnny Minnock and a thunderbolt from Tom Mohan secured three vital points and put Harps back on top of the league for the first time since early August. With both Dublin and Bray getting results over the weekend it put us back in third but we are now only a point adrift with both sides still to play. Our opponents tonight, Kildare County have found their championship hopes decline rapidly since Dermot Keely did, what he does best and jumped ship. They need a result here tonight after losing to Galway last weekend or they will find themselves six points behind us. We have taken four points from six from Kildare so far this season so here’s hoping we can make it seven tonight.

We have five games this month counting tonight’s fixture. Next week to travel to St Mel’s to take on an in-form Athlone side, the following Tuesday night we have a midweek match here in Finn Park with Monaghan. The following Sunday we travel to Bray in one of our most important games of the season and as many Harps fans are asked to travel if possible to shout the team on in a game that could go a long way to deciding which team will lift the First Division Championship and who will have to settle for the playoffs. Our last game in October sees the visit of our old ‘pals’ from Galway so we will have to get the padding out for that one. Come the end of this month it will be a lot clearer who has the bottle to lift the title. None of these matches are easy games, but everyone one of the them is winnable….starting tonight by leaving Kildare out of sight.

Welcome And Best Wishes To Our New King And Good Bye To An Old One
The FBTN Supporters Club would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to one of the finest people ever to be associated with Finn Harps Football Club. Speakie was an exceptional player for our club and it was a shock to say the least when his departure was announced. We want to wish Johnny the very best, thank him for everything he did for us here and we hope that he continues to attend the games in Finn Park to watch the side he built hopefully lift the league. We also echo the sentiments of other Harps fans and congratulate the board on what we feel is a great appointment (thank Jesus they didn’t go with Felix!). We would like to give Kinger our heartiest Ceád Mile Fáilte to Finn Park and your more than welcome to join us for a pint in the Junction if you want any advice on tactics of team selection.

Bus To Bray
The FBTN are running a bus to the Bray Wanderer’s game on Sunday 19th October. Everyone is more than welcome and you can leave your name with any FBTN member, in the Junction 15 or email frombehindthenets@finnharps.com A tolerance of loud music and alcohol consumption would be advisable though! We are travelling up and down on the one day and its €20 return.

FBTN SC Sponsoring Galway Game
The supporters club are sponsoring the Galway United game here at Finn Park on October 24th. We will be having refreshments in the Junction 15 afterwards and all fans are more than welcome. You will get the chance to meet some of the players and more importantly…..us! The Junction is very good in its sponsorship of FBTN events and we would like to emphasis the importance of supporting all the local businesses that assist in keeping our football club afloat.